Headline Of The Day II

Orlando police say they've arrested an HIV-positive man after he allegedly raped a male patron in a hotel room at the famed Parliament House.

Kenneth Creuzer, 48, told investigators the door to the man's room was open, so he walked in and assaulted him as he lay on his stomach, a police report states. Leaving a door ajar and the blinds open while lying facedown is known as an invitation to sex, Creuzer told investigators. The man told officers he was asleep about 3:05 p.m. when he heard someone come in and assumed it was his boyfriend. When he realized it was not, he began to punch Creuzer, who ran out of the room, according to the report. Creuzer and the man are strangers, and Creuzer was not a guest at the motel, which is part of a resort that includes bars, a restaurant, pool parties and female-impersonator shows. Parliament House, at 410 N. Orange Blossom Trail, calls itself "the gayest place on Earth" and "a gay landmark" on its website.

The suspect has been charged with sexual battery and failing to disclose his HIV status. The long-popular Parliament House has been an alternately beloved and notorious Florida destination for tourists since it converted into a gay hotel in 1975.

The Coming Issue Of Newsweek

Koch Bros Launch $25M Anti-Obama Ad

Via press release:

Americans for Prosperity, the nation’s premier advocate for economic freedom with over 2 million members nationwide, today announced a nationwide ad buy that could top $6.7 million to expressly advocate the defeat of President Barack Obama. See below for details on an important press call today. “These are unprecedented times, and AFP has made an unprecedented decision. Simply put, the stakes are too high, and this election is too important,” said Tim Phillips, AFP President. “President Obama’s economic policies have been a detriment to our nation’s economy, and the American people can’t afford another four years.” The television ad will air starting tomorrow for one week in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Rep. Ben Quayle (above right) is demanding that his Arizona GOP primary opponent apologize for what Quayle says is an allegation that he is bisexual.

Schweikert's campaign is not backing down from the controversial mailer it issued on Friday, which characterizes Quayle as someone who "goes both ways." The campaign says the wording refers to his flip-flops on important issues. The mail piece was clearly intended to say 'both ways' — taking the liberal and conservative side on issues," said Schweikert campaign spokesman Chris Baker. But the Quayle campaign slammed Schweikert over the mailer, which it says has sexual undertones in its use of a term — going both ways — that normally refers to bisexuality. Though the campaign could not be reached for comment, Quayle spokeswoman Anna Haberlein told the Tucson Citizen that the mailer was a "sleazy smear tactic."

If Schweikert had hinted that Quayle might be gay, it would be pistols at dawn.

Minnesota's Cheerios Arsonist Is Fired

One day after the Smoking Gun outed real estate agent and Christian radio preacher Michael Leisner as the anti-gay activist who had set fire to the front lawn of General Mills, Greater Midwest Properties began emailing the below response to complaints left on their contact page.

Thank you for your comment. Greater Midwest Properties does not condone or support the actions of our independent contractors. Also, Greater Midwest Properties does not support the alleged destruction of property. Therefore, the agent’s license will be returned to the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Greater Midwest Properties has no involvement in this incident and it is unrelated to us serving our clients in a professional manner. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. - Greater Midwest Properties.

Chick-Fil-A Flash Mob

Street Meat

In keeping with the tenor of the post below, we learn that Trojan will be giving out 10,000 free vibrators on the streets of Manhattan tomorrow and Thursday.

Trojan Vibrations, a line of sexual enhancement devices, will hand out 10,000 free vibrators from two hot dog carts identified as pleasure carts. Along with the brand’s logo, the carts will feature sayings like “Getcha vibes here!” and “Relish the moment.” Trojan plans to distribute 5,000 each of the Tri-Phoria device, which retails for $40, and the Pulse, which retails for $30, for a total retail value of $350,000. It goes without saying, surely, but Trojan asserts this is the biggest handout of vibrators ever. The promotion begins Wednesday morning with a live commercial by Howard Stern on his show on Sirius XM Radio. The carts will roam Manhattan for two days, with their locations updated on the Trojan Vibrations Facebook page.

Corina Corina - The Familiar

Illinois Hate Group Tells Parents To Pull Kids Out Of Classes With Gay Teachers

The Illinois Family Institute, the former home of Peter LaBarbera, has issued a call for parents to pull their kids out of the classes of liberal or gay teachers.

1-Parents can go to their middle school and/or high school websites and find out which teachers sponsor gay and straight alliances and liberal political activist groups (e.g. AWARE).

2- Parents can also ask what texts will be taught or used (e.g. The Chocolate War, Fat Kid Rules the World, Angels in America, The Laramie Project, or The People’s History of the United States) by a particular teacher. Parents should ask for the reading list for the entire year. Teachers who have a reasonable degree of respect for the values and beliefs of all parents will not have highly controversial texts on either required or recommended reading lists.

3- If parents have children who have already gone through the school or have already completed a year or more, they should ask those children and/or their friends or friends’ parents which teachers are known for bringing their politics into the classroom or who displays a “Safe Space” sticker, the inverted pink triangle, the rainbow flag, or the lower case Greek letter “lambda” on their desk, classroom door, or wall. Students usually know who the liberal, activist teachers are. Liberal teachers develop reputations, often as the “cool” teachers.

Friendly Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta, who IS a teacher, has posted a great response.

They want to rail against liberal teachers — even ones like me, who keep our religious beliefs out of the classroom — but they’re silent when it comes to Christian teachers who proselytize instead of teaching. And you can bet that happens far more often. They’re hypocrites who refuse to acknowledge it and school districts know better than to take them seriously. That’s why IFI has to make up fake enemies. That’s why they go after atheist teachers and English departments and pink triangles and lambda symbols.

Because the teachers who preach atheism or Islam or Hinduism in the classroom don’t exist. Preaching instead of teaching is something certain Christians do, not the rest of us. And if you’re a Christian and you agree with me, then say something about it to them. Stop being silent. It’s not like they care what atheists have to say. On the brighter note, IFI staffers won’t be teaching in any public schools this fall. But I will be. Me and my evil, liberal, hippie, godless, proof-loving, triangle-drawing, “cool” ways.

American Airlines Launches Bag Delivery

If you just can't be bothered to hang around that carousel all day, American Airlines has launched a bag delivery service.

The service, which can be purchased when booking the trip or up to two hours before the flight, costs $29.95 to $49.95, depending on the amount of luggage. The service is available at more than 200 U.S. airports and some cities abroad. If the bag's destination is 40 miles away or less, it should get there within one to four hours, the airline says. If the address is farther away, delivery will cost a dollar more for every extra mile, and delivery time ranges from four to six hours. "We think it's a great product for business travelers who need to go into a meeting or office and don't care to claim their luggage," says David Vance, American's managing director-customer operations planning. "But it's also a great service for families traveling with children and they have a number of bags they're having to deal with."

American has already delivered bags to me twice. Of course they were coming from a city I'd never traveled to....

Two Minutes Of Minnesota Hate, Vol. 31

GOProud On Dems & Gay Marriage

"Democrats talk more about same-sex marriage because they rely on issues that will motivate coalitions within their party. For example, gay Democrats make deals with the unions who in turn make deals with the NAACP. It's all about keeping their coalitions working instead of an overwhelming desire to promote gay marriage." - GOProud head Jimmy LaSalvia, speaking to the Christian Post. GOProud has endorsed Mitt Romney, who signed NOM's pledge that he will pursue a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage nationwide.

Marvin Hamlisch Dead At 68

Famed stage and screen composer Marvin Hamlisch has passed away at the age of 68. Hamlisch was one of only two people in the world to achieve the EGOPT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Pulitzer, and Tony.

Family spokesman Jason Lee said Hamlisch died Monday after a brief illness. Other details aren't being released. Hamlisch's career included composing, conducting and arranging music from Broadway to Hollywood. The composer won every major award in his career, including three Academy Awards, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globes. His music colored some of film and Broadway's most important works. Hamlisch composed more than 40 film scores, including Sophie's Choice, Ordinary People and Take the Money and Run. He won his third Oscar for his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for The Sting.

On Broadway, Hamlisch received the Pulitzer Prize for long-running favorite A Chorus Line and wrote The Goodbye Girl and Sweet Smell of Success. A news release from his publicist said he was scheduled to fly to Nashville this week to see a production of his hit musical, The Nutty Professor. Hamlisch earned his place in American culture through his music, but he also had a place in popular culture. Known for his nerdy look, complete with thick eyeglasses, that image was sealed on NBC's Saturday Night Live during Gilda Radner's Nerd sketches. Radner, playing Lisa Loopner, would swoon over Hamlisch.

The View From Mars

CNN's Dana Loesch: If You Disagree With Chick-Fil-A Then You Hate Christ

Loesch is also the editor of Breitbart's Big Journalism and substitutes on Glenn Beck's radio show when he is on vacation. Last year CNN hired her as a commentator to represent "the Tea Party point of view" during the 2012 campaigns.

These Exist

According to KosherDiapers.com their product's Velcro fasteners have "no חשש, whatsoever - not when opening and not when closing the strips." Thank goodness! See, and this was news to us (bad Jews that some of us are), the gist of the issue is that the adhesive in most diapers use glue, which is "similar in effect to sewing" which is prohibited on Shabbos. Velcro, however, is okay because "diapers with velcro tabs are permitted because velcro achieves its stickiness by hooking, not by gluing."

RELATED: You're not officially a New Yorker until you attend a party in a Shabbos-observant apartment building and realize too late that the elevator is going to stop on every floor so that nobody has to push a button. Lesson learned: If you're coming from another party, pee before you leave or that ride to 27F could be very uncomfortable.

Birther Of The Day - Wayne Root

"I am President Obama’s classmate at Columbia University, Class of ’83. I am also one of the most accurate Vegas odds makers and prognosticators. Accurate enough that I was awarded my own star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. And I smell something rotten in Denmark. Obama has a big skeleton in his closet. It’s his college records. Call it gut instinct” but my gut is almost always right. Obama has a secret hidden at Columbia- and it’s a bad one that threatens to bring down his presidency.

"Gut instinct is how I’ve made my living for 29 years since graduating Columbia. [snip] Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not." - Wayne Root, writing for Glenn Beck's The Blaze.

RELATED: Root is a regular guest of Fox News and in 2008 was the Libertarian Party's vice presidential candidate.

One month ago the Liberty Counsel lost an appeal of their earlier loss in their lawsuit to overturn marriage equality in New York state. Now they want to make it a three-peat of losing. Via Justin Snow at MetroWeekly:

Liberty Counsel has asked the New York State Court of Appeals to consider the case. The group, which is well known for their anti-gay rhetoric, says "the remedy sought is the voiding of the law." In statement, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel argued again that "arm-twisting and closed-door meetings used to pass this law redefining marriage violated the open meetings requirements" and that the legislative process must be transparent. "When government operates in secret and freezes out the very people it is supposed to represent, the entire system fails," Mathew Staver said. "The law should be set aside, and the process should begin again to allow the people a voice in the process."

Obama Hasn't Even Been To Israel!

Gay And Proud In Uganda

It boggles the mind, but a small gay pride event was held in Uganda this weekend. Alexis Okeowo reports at New Yorker:

“Can you imagine that the worst place in the world to be gay is having Gay Pride?” Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera asked a crowd of cheering gay men, lesbians, transgendered men and women, and queers somewhere in between. It was Saturday afternoon, and we were on the shores of the giant, cloudy Lake Victoria in the Ugandan city of Entebbe, where L.G.B.T. activists had decided to stage the country’s first Pride Parade. Nabagesera, a lesbian activist covered, for the occasion, in glitter and neon spray paint, with homemade angel wings, was being half-sarcastic. A barrage of media coverage has painted the country as a hell for gays—a place where they are suffering and being attacked constantly—and, despite the need to combat such threats, L.G.B.T. Ugandans were tired of hearing a story that ignored their nuanced experiences of both joy and hardship.

Hit the link for a slideshow and the rest of Okeowo's fascinating article. (Tipped by JMG reader Joe)

Olympic Silver Fox Break

At age 39 Bulgaria's Yordan Yovchev is the elder statesman of Olympic gymnastics. London marks his sixth appearance at the Olympic Games, a record for his sport. Yovchev first competed 20 years ago in Barcelona at the age of 19.

Matt Baume: Marriage News Watch

Clip recap:

Prop 8 is heading to the Supreme Court, and another judge finds the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional. That brings the total rulings against DOMA to five in just the last few months. More polls show that supporters of the freedom to marry outnumber our opponents. And good news for bi-national couples, with a groundbreaking announcement by the Department of Homeland Security.

Sister Boom Boom Dies At 57

Well known Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence member, one-time San Francisco mayoral candidate, and early AIDS activist Jack "Sister Boom Boom" Fertig passed away Sunday night at age of 57. The Sisters send us this remembrance:

On August 5, 2012 at 9:30 PM, Sister Boom Boom aka Jack Fertig succumbed to liver cancer in the loving presence of his partner Elias Trevino and dogs, Chloe and Perry. Jack was also known to many as teacher, astrologer, artist, and a devout and faithful scholar of Islam. Sister Boom Boom was a key Queer pioneer who took Queer Consciousness to the mainstream. In 1982, Sister Boom Boom nearly won a Board of Supervisors seat by running a uniquely San Francisco campaign of radical politics and nun drag. She won 23,124 votes with her occupation listed as “Nun of the Above.”

A year later, Boom Boom ran for the 1983 mayoral race against incumbent Dianne Feinstein and, as a result, San Francisco passed a law that requires candidates to only use their legal names on the ballot. This law is often referred to as the “Sister Boom Boom” law. Due to internal disputes, Jack Fertig broke from the Sisters in 1985. Jack Fertig went on to pursue his Divine calling and became an award-winning astrologer and respected Queer Muslim activist. He was also an avid organizer in the leather and sober communities. Cleve Jones, AIDS activist and creator of the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt remembers Sister Boom Boom as a “dear friend” and a “fierce advocate for the poor and immigrant communities.”

Fertig eventually reconciled with the Sisters, who will announce a public memorial for Sister Boom Boom shortly. (Tipped by JMG reader Daigan)

White Supremacy Definition Fail

Four Times Married Drug Addict Rush Limbaugh Defends Sanctity Of Marriage

"Now Christianity has to be banned, and that’s where this is all headed. All this stuff at Chick-fil-A, the target is Christianity, not Chick-fil-A. The target is freedom of religion. [With] Obama and Obamacare, the target is always freedom. When we’re talking about liberals, the target is always freedom. Dan Cathy, the head honcho of Chick-fil-A, he’s not making a political statement when he talks about the values the company believes in. It gets interpreted that way because the left has politicized gay marriage." - Rush Limbaugh.

RELATED: We're still waiting for Limbaugh to fulfill his 2010 promise to move to Costa Rica should the Affordable Healthcare Act pass. Not incidentally, Costa Rica provides universal health care. While Costa is ranked 50th in per capita health care expenditures, its medical system rates higher than the United States, which spends the most per person.

Opening Tomorrow In New York City

Queerness, as a sexual identity, is a modern phenomenon, developed in the early part of the 20th century. It is also something that each queer develops into at their own time and pace. As a history museum, we are interested in what comes before the modern moment. Thus, the theme for our summer show is “Before We Were Queer” –in terms of both personal identification and historic categorization. When and where queer history has been preserved, it has been kept by our community itself, and

Pop-Up seeks to give voice to these small narratives that are so easily lost in the rush to codify a bigger, more linear, capital-H version of our history. This show explores a wide range of queer history, going as far back as the Song Dynasty in China (960 – 1279 CE), when Guanyin (the Chinese name for the Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva), began to be depicted as both male and female. Exhibit makers for this show come from many countries, including Canada, Colombia, Netherlands, Peru, Tanzania, and the U.S., and range in age from their teens to their sixties.

NEW YORK CITY: Playwright And Tony Winner Mark O'Donnell Dies At 58

Openly gay playwright and humorist Mark O'Donnell, who won the Best Book Tony Award for the Broadway show Hairspray, died of cardiac arrest yesterday near his Manhattan home at the age of 58. Playbill reports:

Hairspray co-songwriter Marc Shaiman told Playbill.com on Aug. 6, "Mark was a kind soul, a hysterical mind and the real hero of Hairspray. His passing is shocking, our great loss, but heaven's gain." His plays include That's It, Folks!; Fables for Friends; The Nice and the Nasty; Strangers on Earth; Vertigo Park and the musical Tots in Tinseltown. He collaborated with Bill Irwin on an adaptation of Moliere's Scapin and co-authored a translation of Georges Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear. He also adapted Feydeau's Private Fittings for the La Jolla Playhouse and a symphonic version of Pyramus and Thisbe for the Kennedy Center. Mr. O'Donnell published two collections of comic stories "Elementary Education" and "Vertigo Park and Other Tales" (both Knopf) as well as two novels, "Getting Over Homer" and "Let Nothing You Dismay" (both in Vintage paperback). His humor, cartoons and poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic and Esquire. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the George S. Kaufman Award.

O'Donnell is survived by his (straight) identical twin brother, who is the head writer on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

Monday, August 06, 2012

The Smoking Gun Identifies The Minnesota Man Who Set Fire To General Mills' Lawn

The Smoking Gunhas identified the douchebag who set fire to a box of Cheerios outside the Minnesota headquarters of General Mills. Flaming cereal bits then ignited the company's lawn and the man and his giggling accomplices fled.

The gay marriage opponent seen in a viral video accidentally setting a fire outside the General Mills headquarters is a Minnesota real estate broker who has previously recorded a series of anti-gay YouTube clips. Michael Leisner, 65, can be seen outside the General Mills corporate campus in Golden Valley. He is carrying a box of Honey Nut Cheerios in one hand and a blowtorch in the other. On Michael Leisner’s YouTube page (Live4Chr1st) he can be seen attacking Representative Barney Frank and Bill Maher, while noting that President Barack Obama has “bent forward to accommodate the sodomites of New York.” He also makes reference to "gay perverts," "fierce faggots," and the "depraved, debasing debauchery of gay activists."

Leisner told the Smoking Gun that he used to preach on Christian radio and at college campuses. He admits that General Mills might be looking for him. Leisner has disabled embedding of his video but it remains on YouTube for now. The Smoking Gun has mirrored their own copy just in case.

UPDATE: I've found Leisner's profile and contact details on the website of Greater Midwest Properties. Surely by now his employers know they have an arsonist working for them, right? I'm mean, Adam Smith got fired just for what he said to a drive-thru employee.

UPDATE II: Here's a couple videos from Leisner's YouTube channel Live4Chr1st. Don't flag them, they need to be seen as shining examples of Christian Love™.

Chikin Billionaires Among World's Richest

GOP Announces Convention Speakers

Still no Sarah Palin, but the Republican National Committee announced a roster of mostly conservative headliners for the GOP convention this month in Tampa, Fla. The Republican 2008 presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, will be among the top speakers at the four-day gathering of party faithful. One of the party’s rising stars, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, will have a leading spot, as will top conservatives – Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and now television host, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. In a nod to the critical Latino vote, the convention tapped New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez for a prime role. And while former President George W. Bush is not expected to attend, his former secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will also have a prime address.

SPOILER: True Blood

Donohue: Romney's Refusal To Address Chick-Fil-A Has Left Me Disheartened

"This is the most disheartened that certainly I’ve felt looking at this entire race. Social conservatives have to make up their mind whether they should just simply stay at home, or go out there and vote for Romney. I’m astonished that he couldn’t even come to grips with the question — leaving gays out of it — do we want the chief executives, the mayors of large cities trying to intimidate, using the power of government against private enterprises whose politics they disagree with? I think it’s a pretty simple issue. No one’s going to be allowed to speak at any great length on this issue [at the GOP convention]. All we’re going to hear is that marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s flatulent." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donahue, outraged that Romney has been "agnostic" on the national chikin flap.

Linda Harvey: Bring Back HIV Travel Ban

"The [2012 AIDS] conference was taking place in the U.S. for the first time in twenty-two years. Why? Because HIV-positive individuals had been banned from entering the U.S. but the Obama administration lifted that travel and immigration ban in 2009. So HHS Secretary Sebelius, ‘the HIV entry ban was a bad policy based on faulty science that ran contrary to America’s deepest values.’ She’s wrong, once again. Reckless sexual behavior is not a deep American value, except perhaps in Washington. The ban was a response to reality and the known attraction of some would-be immigrants to the U.S.’s liberal homosexual culture in certain cities. Opening our ports to HIV-positive people just invites an acceleration of the epidemic." - Hate group leader Linda Harvey, speaking on her Christian radio show.

RUSSIA: Female Punk Band Pussy Riot On Trial For Anti-Putin Protest In Church

Some major Western pop acts such as Katy Perry and Pete Townsend have expressed support for Pussy Riot, whose members have been called "political prisoners" by Amnesty International and whose trial has riveted Russia. The impartiality of the below Russia Today report should be considered when viewing.

A senior official from the Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that under the Affordable Healthcare Act, federally funded agencies and providers will be barred from discriminating against transgender patients. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

In response to a letter sent by a dozen LGBT health and advocacy organizations to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in June, Leon Rodriguez — the director of HHS's Office for Civil Rights — wrote on July 12 HHS considers discrimination based on "gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity" in federal health programs or activities receiving funding under the Affordable Care Act#39;s-covered programs to be illegal.

In the letter, obtained by BuzzFeed, Rodriguez agreed with the groups' assessment that the prohibition on sex discrimination in Obama's health care law prohibited discrimination against transgender people and stated that his office would investigate any complaints of such discrimination. Referring to a recent survey, National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling told BuzzFeed that 20 percent of transgender people report being turned away from a health-care provider for being transgender. "That's illegal now," she said.

Steve Wozniak: Regulate The Cloud

In a column published today by Gizmodo, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak calls for federal regulation of internet data storage services.

"I've had too many personal experiences get messed up just because companies change things on the cloud. I've come to a depressed state of feeling that I own nothing on the cloud and have no ability to keep things working the way they do. Features change and get dropped, things you depend on disappear, etc. And no company will ever take responsibility. It's rare to ever get told what really happened. [snip] It does suggest a responsibility of service providers to recover from such events, whether caused maliciously or accidentally, or by bad software. Our 'freedoms' come from regulation. The Bill of Rights reads "[some party] shalt not [do bad things]". Regulation is the only way we'll own a bit of what we trust to the cloud. I believe that regulation applies to banks and that money lost due to no fault of your own is replaced, at least for large amounts. Why not for the cloud, as well? And it would be better for this regulation to begin now, not in 30 years, when it may be too late.

Pupil Dilation Reveals Sexual Orientation

For the first time, researchers at Cornell University used a specialized infrared lens to measure pupillary changes to participants watching erotic videos. Pupils were highly telling: they widened most to videos of people who participants found attractive, thereby revealing where they were on the sexual spectrum from heterosexual to homosexual. [snip] The new Cornell study adds considerably more to the field of sexuality research than merely a novel measure. As expected, heterosexual men showed strong pupillary responses to sexual videos of women, and little to men; heterosexual women, however, showed pupillary responses to both sexes. This result confirms previous research suggesting that women have a very different type of sexuality than men. Moreover, the new study feeds into a long-lasting debate on male bisexuality. Previous notions were that most bisexual men do not base their sexual identity on their physiological sexual arousal but on romantic and identity issues. Contrary to this claim, bisexual men in the new study showed substantial pupil dilations to sexual videos of both men and women.

New Marriage Ad From Washington State

Washington Pride Foundation announces via press release:

Rev. Gib Rossing and his wife, Beth, married for 52 years and the parents of four children talk about the importance of marriage for all their children, including their gay son and his partner, in a new TV ad by the Pride Foundation. This is the second statewide ad released by the nonprofit, Seattle-based community foundation which has led the ongoing public education campaign on the freedom to marry. The ad focuses on their son Jonathan and their hopes for him to be able to marry his long-term partner Ryan. It emphasizes that all loving and committed couples, whether gay or straight, hope to marry for the same reasons most couples do—to make a lifetime promise to another person and to share the joys and challenges that life brings.

DC Launches Trans Rights Campaign

The D.C. Office of Human Rights has created the country’s first government-funded campaign to combat anti-transgender discrimination, the Washington Blade has learned. Two trans women and men and a self-identified “genderqueer” person will each appear in one of the five separate ads that the agency will place throughout the city in the fall. The spots will highlight respect, shared values and D.C.’s anti-discrimination law, which includes trans-specific protections. The ads will also encourage trans Washingtonians to contact OHR if they experience discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

Christians Are Too Nice To Come Out Against Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2

FRANCE: Catholic Church Issues National Prayer Against Gay Adoption

Pink News reports that the French Catholic Church has revived a 17th century tradition of issuing prayers for the national government. Their first target: gay adoption.

Celebrating the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Church prays for those whose decisions affect the economy in a time of hardship. It then asks God that those who have been elected to govern the country have a “sense of common good of society” which “outweighs special requests” they receive. Lawmakers, it hopes, will follow the “guidance of their conscience”. In opposition to the intended legalisation of gay adoption, the prayer entreaties God that children “cease to be objects of desires and conflicts of adults to fully benefit from the love of a father and a mother”. The Church also asks for “the courage to make hard choices and a better quality of life for all”.

France is set to become the next European nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

HomoQuotable - Michelangelo Signorile

"Some are saying we lost the battle with Chick-fil-A, even calling it a dismal failure. I don't believe any effort to point to homophobia is ever in vain, so I wouldn't go that far. When you're fighting bigotry, it's always an uphill battle. That said, there were problems with the strategy -- or rather, lack of strategy -- in taking on Chick-fil-A. We allowed the opponents of LGBT rights to use the media to recast the issue as one about the first amendment. [snip] So yes, our enemies distorted our message and reframed the story. And we allowed them to do it.

"How did we allow it to happen? Because there was no coordinated effort on our side. The controversy was largely driven by blogs, social media and very loosely organized grass-roots activists, with no coordinated leadership. The city mayors and politicians calling for banning Chick-fil-A gave an opportunity for the right to reframe the story. The mayors backed off quickly after many on the left decided it wasn't a good idea. That's what we progressives do: We debate and often rethink things, unlike what those on the right did during the controversy over the Islamic center, as James Peron noted. But though the politicians backed off, the damage was done. And there was no leadership on our side aggressively pulling the story back from the right's re-framing." - Michelangelo Signorile, writing for the Huffington Post.

Human Rights Campaign Donates $1M To Fight Marriage Referenda In Four States

The HRC funds, which are being unveiled Monday, are $250,000 apiece for Maine, Washington, Maryland and Minnesota, all of which have ballot measures in November on gay marriage. Officials said there will be more spending coming, and that it makes the total spent by HRC in 2011 and 2012 on marriage-related efforts to $4.8 million. "These ballot measures are the critical issues in November for our community, besides re-electing the president" and a small handful of specific races, said HRC's Michael Cole-Schwartz. "And part of why they're a big deal is because our opponents have rightfully had the talking points that all of these states have banned marriage for same-sex couples (in the past)."

RELATED: Two weeks ago Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife donated $2.5M to Washington state's marriage equality group. The Bezos donation may be the largest individual gift in the history of the marriage equality movement nationwide.

Wisconsin Shooter Identified [UPDATED]

CBS News reports that the Wisconsin shooter has been identified. No photo has yet been released [SEE UPDATE BELOW] and web detectives are already scouring social media sites for his profiles.

The suspect in a shooting that left six people dead at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee on Sunday has been identified as Wade Michael Page, who served in the U.S. Army for about six years. According to sources in the U.S. Army, Page enlisted in April 1992 and given a less-than-honorable discharge in October 1998. He served at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the psychological operations unit in 1994, and was last stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, attached to the psychological operations unit.

The details of his discharge were not immediately clear. Wade was killed outside the temple in a shootout with police officers after the rampage that left terrified congregants hiding in closets and others texting friends outside for help. Officials had previously described the suspect as a heavy-set, 40-year-old Caucasian with numerous tattoos. Sources tell CBS News some unspecified evidence suggests race or ethnicity may have played a role in the violence, but no links to extremist groups have been confirmed.

Right wing sites are falling over themselves in fear that a link between the shooter and themselves will be found. After the shooter was identified as former military and a possible white supremacist, Michelle Malkin's Twitchy site deleted a post denouncing "leftists" for linking the shooter to conservatives. Over at Free Republic, a 650+ comments thread variously blamed the shooting on a liberal "false flag" conspiracy and a federal plot to discredit the white race.

UPDATE: The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified Page as a member of the white supremacist band End Apathy.

The man who allegedly murdered six people at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee yesterday, identified in media reports as Wade Michael Page, was a frustrated neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a racist white-power band. In 2010, Page, then the leader of the band End Apathy, gave an interview to the white supremacist website Label 56. He said that when he started the band in 2005, its name reflected his wish to “figure out how to end people’s apathetic ways” and start “moving forward.” “I was willing to point out some of my faults on how I was holding myself back,” Page said. Later, he added, “The inspiration was based on frustration that we have the potential to accomplish so much more as individuals and a society in whole.” He did not discuss violence in the interview.

TODAY: SiriusXM At 2:30PM

Today at 2:30pm I'll be on Michelangelo Signorile's SiriusXM show to talk about some of the latest LGBT-related news items. The gays are on channel 108 and you can listen live online if you sign up for a freebie account. What are your top five gay news items of the last week?

MEXICO: Lesbian Folk Singer Chavela Vargas Dies At The Age Of 93

Most Americans may not know the name of Chavela Vargas, but foreign film buffs will recognize her distinctive voice from the soundtracks of Pedro Almodavar's movies. Vargas died yesterday at the age of 93.

Vargas rose to fame flouting the Roman Catholic country's preconceptions of what it meant to be a female singer: singing lusty "ranchera" songs while wearing men's clothes, carrying a pistol, drinking heavily and smoking cigars. Though she refused to change the pronouns in love songs about women as some audiences expected, many of her versions of passionate Mexican folk songs are considered definitive. Born in San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica, on April 17, 1919, Vargas immigrated to Mexico at age 14. She sang in the streets as a teenager, then ventured into a professional singing career well in her 30s.

"I was never afraid of anything because I never hurt anyone," Vargas told the audience at a Mexico City tribute concert in June 2011. "I was always an old drunk." Vargas recorded 80 albums, becoming a major figure in Mexico City's artistic explosion of the mid-20th century. She was a friend and a frequent house guest of the Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and was close to the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca. Along the way she was honored as a "distinguished citizen" of Mexico City and was given Spain's Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic. In 2007 the Latin Recording Academy gave her its lifetime achievement award.

Although it had been widely known among her fans for decades, Vargas did not publicly confirm being a lesbian until the age of 81. The first clip below is a trailer for Almodovar's 2009 film, Broken Embraces, which features Vargas singing the Mexican standard, Piensa En Mi.

Pity This Canadian Chicken Chain

Canada's Chick-Felays, which has four locations in Ontario, is getting complaints from customers who mistake it for Chick-Fil-A, which currently only has outlets in the United States.

“It shocks me that people would ask ‘How can you discriminate?’ How could you think that? We’re brown people,” chuckled [CEO Nabeel] Khan, who has found humour in the angry customers’ outbursts. Now, when patrons inquire on a possible relation between Chick-Felays and Chick-fil-A, Khan says his employees point out that the spelling, the menu and the logo are all different. But most importantly, the beliefs are different, he says. “We welcome everyone, customers and employees, with our arms open and our hearts open,” he said, sitting in a booth at Chick-Felays’s newly opened Mississauga location on Latimer Dr. “Working in the service industry, it’s nonsense to publicly say what (Dan Cathy) said. It’s not good for business.” He said the situation became so severe at Chick-Felays’s Listowel restaurant that a sign had to be placed in the window indicating “We are pleased to announce that we are not affiliated with Chick-fil-A.”

Chick-Felays opened its first store in 2010 and Khan doubtlessly hoped to cash in on Chick-Fil-A's name recognition. (Tipped by JMG reader Reality Bites)

After speculations about a suicide attempt and Republican demands that he explain his long absence from Congress, yesterday the wife of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) lifted her family's "news blackout" on his condition. Jackson's whereabouts had been undisclosed for almost two months and only last week was it revealed that he is at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic.

In an exclusive interview, Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) walked [Sun-Times reporter Michael] Sneed through the dark days since her husband’s “collapse.” She also dispelled rumors that her husband, who is being treated for depression at Mayo Clinic, attempted suicide or was receiving help for alcohol and drug addiction. “No, no, none of that is true,” said Sandi Jackson, who has been at the helm of her husband’s health care since he collapsed on June 10 at their home in Washington, D.C. Ald. Jackson, who has spent the past month traveling from home to hospital to work, also provided a dramatic timeline for the congressman’s stunning absence, which netted sympathy and . . . criticism. “His collapse was D-Day for us,” said Sandi Jackson, who tells Sneed her husband had become “completely debilitated by depression.” She also claims the congressman’s world since June 10 has been immersed in a “news blackout.

Jackson is scheduled to appear at the Democratic Convention next month, but his wife said that decision is in the hands of his doctors.